Patrick Comerford
While the sun continues to shine, I continue to enjoy exploring the charming towns and villages that are within a short bus journey from Stony Stratford or Milton Keynes, enjoying the buildings and architecture, churches and market squares, scattered across the countryside of Buckinghamshire and the neighbouring counties of Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, and even further afield.
I regularly pass through the market town of Bicester on my way to and from Oxford. It is in north Oxfordshire, about 18 km (11 miles) north-east of Oxford, and close to the borders of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire boundaries. But until recently, I had never got off the bus at Bicester, deterred by the supposed attractions of the shopping centre that has taken the name of Bicester Village.
I realised, of course, that I was being unkind to the real, original town centre, which is a designated conservation area, with its own local market, independent shops and restaurants that are probably never noticed by the shoppers in search of labels and brand names. Indeed, I imagine, many of those brand-name shoppers have real difficulties when it comes to pronouncing Bicester, alongside tongue twisters like Gloucester and Worcester.
Despite the brash modernity and supposed attractions of the shopping centre – which I have only seen from buses between Buckingham and Oxford – Bicester dates back to the days of the Roman presence in ancient Britain.
The town is close to the point where two Roman roads met: Akeman Street, an east/west route between St Albans and Cirencester, and a north/south route between Dorchester and Towcester, that lies under Queen’s Avenue. There was a Roman fort at Alchester, 3 km (2 miles) south-west of Bicester, and one local source describes Alchester as ‘a kind of Roman Aldershot’.
There are several theories to explain the origin of the name of Bicester. One theory says it may be derived from a personal name Beorna, meaning the ‘Fort of the Warriors’. Another says the name is derived from the Latin for Bi-cester meaning ‘two forts’, referring to Alchesterand Chesterton.
The West Saxons established a settlement in the 6th century close to these ancient routes. Bicester has been inhabited since the mid-7th century and early forms of the name include Berncestre, Burencestre, Burcester, Biciter and Bissiter.
Saint Edburg’s Church was founded as a minster in Bicester, perhaps in the mid-seventh century after Saint Birinus converted Cynegils, King of Wessex, following their meeting near Blewbury. The site was just east of the old Roman road between Dorchester and Towcester.
The first church served the inhabitants of a growing Saxon settlements on either side of the River Bure, and was a mission centre for the surrounding countryside.
Archaeological excavations at Yard identified the boundary of the ecclesiastical enclosure boundary, and a large burial site with Saxon graves suggesting a much larger churchyard has been excavated on the site of the Roman Catholic Church car park almost opposite Saint Edburg’s.
The first documentary reference to Bicester is in the Domesday Book in 1086, when it is recorded as Berencestra. The two manors of Bicester and Wretchwick were held by Robert D’Oyly who built Oxford Castle. The town grew as twin settlements on opposite banks of the River Bure, a tributary of the Ray, Cherwell, and ultimately the River Thames.
By the end of the 13th century, Bicester was the centre of a deanery of 33 churches. The remains of an Augustinian priory founded by Gilbert Bassett ca 1183 survive in the town centre. The walled priory enclosure lay just south of the church. The gatehouse was on the site of ‘Chapter and Verse’ guesthouse in Church Lane, and Saint Edburg’s House is built partly on the site of the large priory church.
Market Square dates from the market charter granted by Henry III in 1239. Early charters encouraged Bicester to develop as a trading centre, and a market and fair were established by the mid-13th century.
Market Square is a typical mediaeval, triangular-shaped market square, playing a defensive role in the absence of a town wall. It once included a town hall, slaughterhouse and meat market, stocks and a whipping post, formerly the ‘Shambles’. Later additions included a drinking fountain, weighbridge and air-raid shelter.
The core of the modern street plan in the town centre was established in mediaeval times and many of the buildings date back to the late 16th to 18th centuries.
On Market Square, No 17 is a 17th century timber-framed, gable fronted house, with an original cobbled path to the rear yard for horses. The refurbished bay window conceals a grill that indicates the large cellars that were under these old buildings.
No 47 Market Square is a striking, former merchant’s house and business premises dating from 1698 and indicating wealth and status. There are oval windows under the turret, including one that is blind, a ball pinnacle and a weather vane with a running fox.
Nos 46, 48 and 51 Market Square form an Island Block, and date from the late 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Nos 48 and 51 were probably built as one two-storey house with an attic, while No 46 is a slightly later addition. A rare six-light window in No 51 is probably from the early 18th century indicating its long-term use as a shop.
The King’s Arms on Market Square dates from the 18th century, but has an earlier, timber-framed building concealed behind its much-altered façade. It was once one of the principal coaching inns in the town, later hosted public meetings and was once the centre for the Bicester Hunt.
Sheep Street dates from a Friday market granted in 1441, probably for cattle and sheep. It was once known as Saint John the Baptist Street, and its street plan has changed little since mediaeval times.
The Old Courthouse on Sheep Street was built in 1864. The former county courthouse is in the mediaeval Gothic revival style, with 13th century style stone tracery and 15th century style lower windows. The archway over the main entrance door is modelled on one at Caernarfon Castle.
Two separate manors emerged in Bicester, Bury End and Nuns Place, later known as Market End and King’s End, and the effectively divided the town into two distinct areas.
The two townships of King’s End and Market End developed their own distinct features. Inns, shops and high status houses clustered around the triangular Market Square, while King’s End had a substantially lower population and none of the commercial bustle found on the other side of the Bure.
Causeway was reputedly laid out by the monks from Bicester Priory, linking the King’s End and Market End manors and providing access to the market.
Sir Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, who married Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, was the lord of the manor of Market End in the late 15th century. Stanley crowned the new king on battlefield at Bosworth in 1485, and as the step-father of Henry VII he was granted many manors.
Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, bequeathed the manor to his second son, William Stanley, in 1593. William Stanley, who became the 6th Earl of Derby in 1594, sold a 9,999-year lease to the 31 principal tenants in 1597. This in effect gave the Market End manorial rights to the leaseholders.
The leaseholders elected a bailiff to receive the profits from the bailiwick, mainly from the administration of the market, and the bailiff’s title gave rise to what became known as the Bailiwick of Bicester Market End.
By 1752, all of the original leases were in the hands of ten men, who leased the bailiwick control of the market to two local tradesmen. The bailiwick lessees promoted a much less regulated market than those found in other boroughs. Away from the market, Sheep Street was considered 'very respectable' but its northern end at Crockwell was inhabited by the poorest inhabitants in overcrowded living conditions.
Bicester House, on the site of the mediaeval manor house of the Nuns of Markyate, became the home of the Coker family, who were lords of the manor of King’s End from 1584. The house was rebuilt in the early 18th century, and was remodelled in the 1780s, was rebuilt in a Georgian style following a fire in the 1820s.
When the Cokers demolished a range of buildings on the north side of King’s End Green, enlarged the park and surrounded it with a wall, the road that followed the line of the Roman road was lost, and traffic was diverted at the Fox Inn through King’s End, across the Causeway to Market Square and Sheep Street before returning to the Roman road north of Crockwell.
Until the early 19th century, the road from the market place to King’s End ran through a ford of the Bure brook and on to the narrow embanked road across the boggy valley. The Causeway became the focus for development from the late 18th century on each side of the road to form building platforms.
Hometree House on London Road dates from the early 19th century. It was once Bicester Hall, the hunting box of the Earl of Cottenham, Master of Bicester Hunt. It was a convalescent hospital run by the Red Cross from 1914, and later was Bicester County (then Grammar) School in 1924-1963.
The railway came to Bicester in 1850 and 1910, stimulating further economic development and growth.
An airfield built north of the town during World War I became an RAF station and is now Bicester Airfield. Bicester experienced significant growth in the 20th century, due partly to its strategic military role.
Today, Bicester is one of the fastest-growing towns in Oxfordshire, and its population is expected to reach 50,000. It has Garden Town status since 2014, but also lies within the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, a nationally designated area for growth and development. It is on the route of the East West Rail being built to link Oxford with Milton Keynes and Cambridge.
Hopefully, the East West Rail opens in time for me to make use of it, making it easier travel to Oxford and Cambridge, and to Bicester too. As for Saint Edburg’s Church, more about that tomorrow, hopefully.
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